Conference abstract
Comparative evaluation of diagnostic approaches for malaria
Pan African Medical Journal - Conference Proceedings. 2017:4(13).15
Nov 2017.
doi: 10.11604/pamj-cp.2017.4.13.444
Archived on: 15 Nov 2017
Contact the corresponding author
Keywords: Plasmodium, malaria, diagnostic approaches
Abstract
Comparative evaluation of diagnostic approaches for malaria
Hagen Frickmann1,&
1Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany
&Corresponding author
Hagen Frickmann, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany
Introduction: microscopy is the backbone of traditional malaria diagnostics. However, availability of technical assistants on military deployments who are well experienced with malaria microscopy is scarce. Therefore, molecular diagnostic procedures are desirable which are widely independent from the skills of the investigator.
Methods: in-house and commercial PCRs systems and various nucleic acid extraction procedures were compared.
Results: there was no relevant difference in the performance of a well-established in-house PCR approach in comparison with a commercial PCR kit for the detection of malaria. Automated nucleic acid extraction from blood samples proved to be as reliable as manual column-based nucleic acid extraction.
Conclusion: the results demonstrate the basic suitability of molecular diagnostic approaches for the detection of malaria with a high degree of automation for the deployment setting. Potential future optimization may include modern approaches like loop-mediated amplification (LAMP), which is currently under investigation at our department.
